Rt.Hon Acho Ihim,former speaker of Imo state House of Assembly
The immediate past speaker of Imo State house of Assembly, Rt. Hon (Dr) Acho Ihim has finally thrown his hat into the ring to contest for the Imo North Senatorial seat which was made vacant by the death of Senator Benjamin Uwajumogu.
This was revealed recently when a three man delegation of a powerful social cultural group in Okigwe zone paid him a visit at his Owerri residence. Though the meeting was a closed door affair but an aide to the immediate past speaker revealed that Ihim has finally made up his mind to contest the position.
According to his aide who doesn’t want his name in the print, Ihim has all this while embarked on elaborate consultations with stakeholders of the area and the powers that be in the state and has decided to contest for the senate seat to give the people of Okigwe zone a voice.
He stated that Okigwe LGA where Ihim hails from has never represented the zone before in the senate, adding that for equity, the LGA should be encouraged to represent the zone. “Moreso, my principal is well experienced in legislative business. He is never a green horn having been the Speaker of Imo State House of Assembly after his first four years as a member of the legislature”, he stated.
It would be recalled that the former Senator presenting the zone, Rt. Hon Benjamin Uwajumogu died while in active service, reportedly of heart related disease and complications. As a result, the position at the Red chambers of the National Assembly has remained vacant.
Already, a lot of people have expressed interest to replace Uwajumogu with Rt. Hon Acho Ihim who appears to be the latest on the list of the aspirants. Others include Chief Emma Okewulonu, Hon Athan Patrick Achonu and Ndubueze on the PDP platform, Distinguished Senator Ifeanyi Araraume, Emeka Nwajiuba, Mark Uchendu, Chidinma Uwajumogu, Chikwem Onuoha etc on the platform of the APC and Attorney Onyirimba on the platform of APGA.
The contest appears to be the battle of titans witg Tony Chukwu vowing to stop senator Ifeanyi Araraume.A stakeholders meeting held recently at the instance of Tony Chukwu had resolved that only the people of Okigwe zone can determine whoever they want as senator in a fair and free contest but the likes of Chief Tim Ihemedu are appealing to Tony Chukwu to join the race.Another person in the race is Sam Nwore from Ihitte/Uboma.He is presently an appointee in Governor Hope Uzodinma’s government.
